


Where Time Doesn't Count At All

by Dzuljeta



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Donna Stays, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Episode: 2006 Xmas The Runaway Bride, Post-Episode: s02e13 Doomsday, Reunions, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Romance, Rose Tyler Stays, Surprises, The TARDIS Does What She Wants, Time Lady Rose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:42:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24513283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dzuljeta/pseuds/Dzuljeta
Summary: The TARDIS keeps Rose Tyler from leaving, but the Doctor isn't allowed to know that. Try saying that to the wild redhead currently on board.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Where Time Doesn’t Count At All**

**1.**

* * *

_“That friend of yours. What was her name?”_

_“Her name was Rose.”_

* * *

“Her name was Rose,” the Doctor said, feeling broken-hearted all over again. Then again, has he ever truly forgotten he had just lost her? No. He knew her tearful love confession was going to haunt him for as long as he lived. Donna was about to leave and his life was about to become a pit of sorrow… He gulped. The redhead was staring at him, her eyes lightening up with a shocking realisation. “Rose, you say?”

“Y-yes, why? Is anything the matter?” He didn’t even notice the TARDIS move.

“Rose. Rose Tyler? The one listed as missing… proclaimed dead Rose?”

He gaped at her, out of words. Could it be?

Donna chuckled. “And there I was, thinking my young friend of a friend had finally found someone. A doctor of some sort, yeah? Look, I wasn’t really listening, my mind filled with that… alien. She was a friend of somebody else's. But I am listening right now! What have you done?”

“My Rose, she… She’s gone now, stuck inside a parallel universe. Do you have any idea what this means?”

The redhead shook her head, not feeling like philosophising. “It's simple. She's gone and you want her back. The real question is… Did you have anything to do with it?”

“What?”

“Did you insult her? Hurt her in any way?” Donna Noble imagined someone as wild as Rose Tyler, if hurt, could do many unreasonable things. Then again, what looked unreasonable to her a few days ago could be a completely normal thing for the Spaceman!

“No.”

Donna sighed, unconvinced. “Was she crying?”

The Doctor nodded, feeling as if someone were stabbing his hearts over and over again.

“Then yes.”

“Being stuck inside a parallel universe means there is no way for anyone to return back to one’s original one! To this Earth. To- to-” He froze, trying to appear strong.

Donna rolled her eyes at him, not caring about his efforts, likely not even noticing them. “Which saves you from trying to find a way to get to her altogether?”

“And be stuck inside the said parallel universe with her forever? I don’t think-”

“You don’t want it.”

“I don’t think that’s a terrible idea,” The Doctor inhaled. But I don't know how-”

“ _I don't know how, don't think it's possible, bla-bla-bla,'”_ Donna grimaced. “That's on times like these I begin regretting you taking my huon particles away from me. I think every little thing, even something like that, it could prove useful.”

He paled, remembering the Bad Wolf. Maybe the old girl's creativity could- No. Rose wouldn't forgive him for risking his life for her, even if it meant getting together. 

“What are you saying?” He asked anyway.

“You could find a way to get her back, somehow! You’re a Time Lord, for God’s sake! An alien, the last of your race!”

“This doesn’t make me omnipotent, Miss Noble.”

Donna rolled her eyes at him. “You are a bloody _Time Lord_ , Doctor! Make a mess! Break some rules! It’s not forbidden for you to try _something!_

The Gallifreyan inhaled. “I could try, but I have already _burnt a sun_ to say goodbye to her!”

She blinked at him. “So burn another one and say hello!”

The Doctor shuddered. “Are you _insane?_ I couldn’t! Merely keeping a telepathic projection on for two minutes has required all this energy-”

“I know you love her. I can see it in your eyes! Don’t you think willingly breaking the heart of someone who loves you isn’t a step you are going to blame you for for all eternity?” Donna spoke seriously.

“I know I will,” he swallowed. 

Donna shook her head, incredulous. All of a sudden, she was determined to work on getting them together, no matter what. The Doctor has saved her from the monster she was about to marry. It felt completely natural she should help him, too.

“I think you, a Time Lord, should work harder on getting your girlfriend back. Or have you given up without a fight?”

He inhaled. “I am ready to do anything to get my Rose back, but do you know what? I’m afraid! What if she wouldn’t want to travel with me any more? With someone who hasn't even considered a possibility to try again? To keep trying, instead of doing nothing?”

Donna sent him a tense smile. “You did what you thought best.”

* * *

“Only it wasn't.” Rose Tyler, with her clothes torn beyond recognition, her pallid complexion resembling that of a ghost more than the kind of her usual cheerful self, said weakly.

The Doctor gasped.

Donna Noble ignored him, fixing her attention on Rose. “For God's sake! What have you done to yourself? Where have you been hiding? We have agreed you wouldn't come out, until-”

_What?!_

The Time Lord was terrified, panicked and stunned at the same time. His beloved, his Rose Marion Tyler, was standing before him, looking as if she were on the verge of dying… If she hasn't been but an illusion of someone clearly having a tile loose.

“What?!”

“The old girl, she has saved me. She has hidden me from you. From everyone… Until Donna Noble has accidentally come up on me, because of some miscalculation of the TARDIS.”

He wasn't ready to consider these trivial matters, not now. “Rose… You must come with me. Explanations can wait!” The Doctor grabbed her by the hand.

“Thanks,” the fair-haired girl smiled at Donna. “You're a true friend!”

The Gallifreyan looked at the redhead murderously. 

She shuddered. “I swear, I wanted to tell you, Doctor!”

“I have forbidden her to,” Rose said. 

The Time Lord sighed, swallowing some questions he knew could wait.

“I know your family's abilities to convince are incomparable,” he nodded, taking Rose out of the room and straight into the infirmary in two seconds.

“Give me your hand,” he asked. “I won't have you die in my arms!”

“You know I may pass out at the sight of blood?” She winked at him.

The Doctor gulped. She didn't know it was likely that in the state she was in one wrong _move_ could make her pass out, all right… “Fine. No blood analysis for you. But you need to eat! Need to wear some new clothes! Need to-”

Rose inhaled slowly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Previously…**

_ The Doctor gulped. She didn't know it was likely that in the state she was in one wrong move could make her pass out, all right… “Fine. No blood analysis for you. But you need to eat! Need to wear some new clothes! Need to-” _

_ Rose inhaled slowly. _

**Where Time Doesn’t Count At All**

**2.**

“You’re right,” she agreed. 

The Doctor was afraid to touch some uncomfortable topics, but felt he needed to know. “Rose, is it true you haven’t been off this ship?”

“The TARDIS, she has come up with a believable story I was supposed to tell Mum, to calm her down. On the phone. Nope, not even back when you, someone I now know can’t be trusted, have placed that bloody teleportation device around my neck,” her bitter words were barely audible. 

“Luckily for me, she has somehow disabled its main function and has transported me somewhere into the depths of the ship instead.”

The Doctor stared at her, both amazed and startled at the same time.

“What about Norway? Do you mean to tell me we have both been here aboard the TARDIS at the same time?”

“Yes.”

“But, but- your tears, your little brother, your-”

“All true. You know there are noise-proof rooms aboard the ship? One to cry in, one to call Mum… I have almost convinced the old girl to make my room noise-proof, but she talked me out of it. Knowing you may decide to come into my room to, well, mourn?”

“What does making the walls noise-proof have to do with anything?” 

“Well. We’re not close enough to talk about these things,” Rose blushed.

The Doctor inhaled. “Getting off, inside the room of the woman I cherish like a goddess? I wouldn’t dare!”

Rose didn’t know how to react to this and burst out laughing. “Oh.”

“The Doctor beamed at her. “Or wasn’t that what you were having in mind?”

“Must I answer?”

“No.”

“Good!”

The Doctor sent her a meaningful look. “Rose… Why are you-”

“Why am I dressed like this? I wanted to be.”

“But-”

"I wasn't allowed to leave that, well... room, under any circumstances. So I chose to keep what I have had on. It's the constant almost daily washing. Nothing overly serious," the Rose sent him a well-practiced smile, which was gone the following second.

“Later, things started happening and I… began losing hope in it ever getting better.”

“What things?”

“Look at me.”

The Doctor peered at her intently and gulped. “I'm here. There's no reason to pretend you're doing fine, Rose.”

“I'm not sure about that. We're not exactly alone, the TARDIS is… not happy, and nobody knows what may happen.”

“Donna's not a threat! She's clever enough to realise-”

Rose placed a finger on her lips.

The Doctor gulped, yet said nothing and listened. A double heartbeat. His. Another double heartbeat. No, it couldn't be. Maybe-

“Are you pregnant, Rose?” Various scenarios began running through his mind, those of Rose being left with a child and him needing to help her in-

“I haven't been off the TARDIS for a long time, remember. Stop imagining what can't be.”

“What do you mean, can't? You're a healthy young woman! It's only natural-”

Rose swore, not having expected such ignorance from him. “Since when have you become such an intolerable … fool, Doctor?”

“Since my idiotic, unjustifiable self has decided to let go of you.” He spoke honestly. “Right now, I think we must make haste and find you something to eat. We could discuss my foolish decisions later, yeah?”

The girl realised this unwished-for charade was doomed to fail sooner or later. But waiting for another second felt unnecessary. 

_ For how much longer?  _ Her words, even when uttered telepathically, were barely audible.

The Doctor gaped at her, feeling like a proper idiot. The signs have all been there. Rose looking and likely feeling as if she were on the brink of dying. Her quieting him down just to allow him hear the obvious. But no, he has decided to ascribe it to something Rose has kept telling him she couldn’t even bear thinking about.

“Rose, I’m-”

“No. I don’t want to hear it. Don’t want you apologising.”

The Doctor exhaled. “I- I understand. But you still need to eat something! Rassilon, it seems to me you are growing paler every second. Are you going to faint in front of me?” He asked her worriedly.

“Tough! Why don’t you do something to prevent it, Time Lord?”

“Let’s not start again. It can’t be the old girl has refused you food of your desire?”

Rose gulped. “No. She’d have found a way to feed me, by force, if necessary, I’m sure. But I have asked of her to allow me to test my new Time Lady limits. Not eating sounded simple enough. Something like extreme dieting, yeah?”

The Gallifreyan stared at her, terrified. “You could have starved yourself to death, Rose!”

“More like having a bite of something eventually and blaming myself for it endlessly? Feels like my young teenage years, all right.”

“Oh, Rose!” He wasn’t certain her unnaturally pale complexion has been a side-effect of her not eating enough alone.

“Where has the old girl been keeping you?”

“No idea, honestly. Some kind of a basement?”

“Without windows,” he clarified.

“Without windows, without space, without fresh air coming in. You name it. The old girl was determined to make me invisible, no matter the cost.”

The Doctor inhaled. “Her ‘Bad Wolf Bay’ simulation has fooled me well enough.”

Rose bit her lip. “Too well. I wanted to shout at you, to tell you it was all nothing but a lie-”

The alien understood this conversation had to end as soon as possible. Rose was recalling some things which needed to be changed with something pleasant instead.

“Tell me, how does a great portion of chips sound for your first meal away from the TARDIS' prison?”

Rose shrugged. “Considering I haven't had it for months, I'd say go ahead, surprise me. But I won't. I am waiting for something… different for this occasion.”


End file.
